day 7 - 25 Days of wellness
Hi there! I’ve seen a couple of people I follow do Advent calendars for various things - 1000 Hours Outside has one for outdoor family activities, and Nutritious Movement has one for movement to create a “butt for the holidays” haha. So good.
So here we go - I’m going to drop a little post each day on a little Wellness tidbit for you to consider. Enjoy!
DAY 7 - rest
Ah, rest. You are a thing I dream of, a thing that only people exempt from hustle-culture and who have no children, job, etc., dream of.
…Right?
WRONG!
Our modern culture does not teach us
the importance of rest
how to rest
how to get support to allow rest to happen
Let’s talk about this for a moment.
THE IMPORTANCE OF REST
What is rest? Truly? Take a minute to observe what your answer to that question is.
Here’s me taking a shot at it: rest is a state where my body, mind, heart, and/or spirit are able to recharge, process, integrate, filter, and cleanse everything it has taken in and experienced.
By my definition, rest includes sleep, naps, and a general state of being.
We have all been told our whole lives that we have to sleep. Why? When we sleep, our bodies do a “system update.” I’m going to go into detail on this in a few more days - stay tuned! Let’s dive into Naps and Restful Living.
Naps can function as a miniature version of complex sleep processing, but we can’t survive solely on naps. Naps rarely include REM sleep, and sometimes we nap so deeply that the rest of our day is thrown off. Darn it! If you’re a parent of very young children, you may need to survive short-term on napping. In that situation, sleep absolutely whenever you CAN! I’m also going to teach you below how to get significantly recharged in 20 minutes.
The last type of rest is a state of being. We all have a different health journey. If you are doing some deep work looking at your thoughts and emotions, or working in a committed way towards healing a physical problem, you may find yourself (or need to turn yourself towards) desiring extra slowness, quietness, and solitude. Honor this and embrace it. Your whole self is telling you that you need it, and only YOU can make it happen. It’s worth it, I promise.
How to Rest
If you are worried about napping for too long, here are some ideas:
1) Set a timer for 20 minutes. Put on some nature sounds or soothing music if you want. Lay on the ground with your knees bent and your arms comfortably at your side. This position is known as Constructive Rest, and it super charges your rest! Pick a thought to meditate on - perhaps one of the constructive questions form last week! Come back to this thought or question until your timer goes off.
2) Listen to a guided meditaton. I really like Insight Timer app for this. They even have nap-specific meditations!
how to get support to allow rest to happen
This is where we need to identify what help we need and how to get it. This can look like
Deciding what you are going to do to get the rest you need and make it clear to your support person and/or spouse how important it is to you.
Getting a doula or babysitter to help watch little ones while you nap, or pick a night or 2 a week where you go to sleep extra early and your spouse takes on kids’ bedtime routines.
Setting boundaries around when you are available to socialize / work / volunteer, and when you are not.
Setting boundaries around who you will associate with and where you will go throughout the day. Sometimes this needs to become a very small group of people who will uplift you and “tough love” on you. Sometimes you need to protect yourself from people who would suck what little energy or happiness you DO have left while you heal.
I hope this was helpful to you. Let me know!
See you on Day 8!
